A former member of the local alt-country act Roger Hoover and the Whiskeyhounds, local singer-songwriter and guitar builder Freddy Hill took a 10-year break from music when his son was born but re-emerged about six years ago and now hosts a jam night once a week at Spotlight. He also has monthly residency at Brothers Lounge and just finished recording his first solo album, August, with local musician and producer John Panza. The album’s woozy tunes sound like the kind of blues tunes that Chess Records put out in the 1950s with a modern rock sensibility.
“Van Halen is my favorite band,” admits Hill, who grew up in Stow, one afternoon from his woodworking shop located on the West side in the Screw Factory, a building that houses a number of local artists and artisans. He plays a release party on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Spotlight. “I’m 50, so when I was in high school, grunge was the thing. It was the best time to be a teenager. I was a huge Soundgarden fan.”
When he got into college, he discovered the blues and played in a band that he says had “zero aspirations.”
After finishing school at Ohio University, he returned to Northeast Ohio in the early 2000s to start grad school at Kent State University. While there, he befriended local singer-songwriter Patrick Sweany and other local musicians.
“I quit grad school and got serious about music,” he says. “I spent the next seven or eight years just playing guitar. I was in the Whiskeyhounds for several years and we put out a bunch of good records and did regional tours.”
At the same time, he started woodworking business and parted ways with the Whiskey Hounds. Other than playing ukulele for his son, he stopped performing.
Then, in 2017, Ryan Foltz from Cleveland Audio convinced him to sign up for Lottery League, the local event that randomly pairs local musicians with one another so they can collaborate.
“It was awesome,” Hill says of the experience. “I had such an awesome band.”
Bandmate Jess Horvath consequently introduced him to local jam nights.
“I hate to be dramatic, but that changed my life,” he says. “It brought music back to the forefront of my life. I don’t know why I was able to walk away from it as long as I did, but it is so important to me now.”
He rediscovered his passion for playing guitar and wrote about 20 songs with the intention of recording 10 for an album. He had one rehearsal with his drummer, Mic Fox, prior to going to Dark Current, the local studio that Panza operates.
“The record sounds like two guys who had one rehearsal the night before, but I am really proud of it,” he says. “It came out way better than I thought it would. I hope there will be enough interest in the record that it will justify me going back and doing another one. I love the process. I hadn’t been in the recording studio in forever but it’s an environment I love being in, and I love songwriting. Any free time I have, I have a pencil in my hand and a guitar on my lap.”
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